A NSW MP has called for the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s bombshell examination of illegal donations to be paused pending an inquiry into whether the watchdog has been leaking information to the media.

John Ruddick, a Libertarian Party member of the NSW upper house, claimed in parliament on Wednesday that Operation Rosny “appears to be tainted” because the Herald has revealed several details about the key players targeted by the ICAC over recent weeks.

Ruddick wants the Inspector General of the ICAC, Gail Furness, SC, to investigate whether ICAC staff had disclosed information in potential breach of the law, and also demanded parliament order an independent inquiry into his claims.

He offered no evidence to support his allegations, other than that the Herald’s coverage has referenced sources who are unauthorised to speak publicly.

The ICAC began its investigation in mid-2022 into the links between the NSW Liberal Party, fugitive Sydney developer Jean Nassif, Catholic Schools NSW and several other figures, including from the Labor Party. Operation Rosny is due to hold eight weeks of public hearings.

Ruddick is particularly focused on a story by the Herald late last month which revealed names on the witness list for the first week of hearings. Ruddick has repeatedly suggested on social media platform X that the ICAC staff leaked the document.

However, the witness list was widely circulated to parties involved in Operation Rosny on the same day the Herald obtained and published the document.

Ruddick told parliament it should condemn “any attempt by a financially desperate, taxpayer-supported media organisation to weaponise confidential ICAC processes or interfere with the integrity of public hearings for its own commercial or political ends”.

He cited stories from more than a decade ago to support his claim the Herald has used confidential sources to report on matters involving the ICAC.

On July 30, a solicitor for the ICAC, Roy Walden, emailed Ruddick to say it had been made aware of “comments by you on X, in which you alleged that ‘operatives within the ICAC are leaking to the SMH on an industrial scale’.”

Walden said in his email that he was not aware of any evidence that any commission officer has “leaked” information in relation to Operation Rosny.

Waleden also said if Ruddick had any evidence of misconduct by ICAC staff it should be referred to Furness in her capacity as the inspector of the ICAC.

Meanwhile, Jean-Claude Perrottet, the 29-year-old brother of former premier Dominic Perrottet, told the commission on Wednesday he was “let go” from his job at Catholic Schools NSW in June, just one month after being promoted.

Perrottet, a key member of the right-wing Catholic group the Reformers which is at the centre of the corruption inquiry, confirmed he was made redundant from the education body just weeks before Operation Rosny was announced. Catholic Schools NSW chief executive Dallas McInerney is also a person of interest to ICAC.

This commission is investigating whether Jean-Claude Perrottet solicited unlawful donations from prohibited donors. One of those was hotelier Michael O’Hara. It is also probing whether McInerney approved and signed off on donations from Catholic Schools NSW to the Liberal Party, via the Reformers.

“I want to suggest to you, Mr Perrottet, that the reason you were made redundant only a month after you’ve been promoted to this new role was because of your involvement in this inquiry. Is that right?” counsel assisting Juliet Curtin asked Perrottet.

“That wasn’t what was communicated to me from the office and the emails that I received. But I mean, obviously, I’ve thought about the timing of it,” he responded.

Senior NSW Liberal MP Damien Tudehope conceded on Tuesday he had leaked a confidential draft report from a parliamentary inquiry to a key witness who deliberately avoided giving evidence, in a stunning revelation that could threaten the party elder’s political future.

Tudehope, then the Coalition government’s most senior member of the upper house, sent the 2023 confidential report into illegal donations and the Hills Shire Council to lobbyist and Liberal Party operative Jeremy Greenwood, the Independent Commission Against Corruption heard on Tuesday.

Greenwood was one of four Liberal apparatchiks who hid or fled overseas to avoid being handed a summons to appear before the parliamentary inquiry, which was one of the catalysts for the broader ICAC probe.

Liberal leader Kellie Sloane has said the Tudehope revelation was not acceptable.

But she left open the possibility he could return to her frontbench after the inquiry concludes, saying yesterday’s evidence had “not changed my position about keeping Damien on the backbench for the short term”.

The Herald also revealed last week that Liberal MP Chris Rath was captured by wiretap helping party apparatchiks evade the statewide manhunt to force them before the parliamentary probe.